Bonus content on Patreon! Take one part anti-war treatise, two parts nature travelogue, one part snack diary and zero parts sex appeal, combine, trim, and set to sick beats. The result is the most definitive version of The Hobbit ever put to celluloid. www.patreon.com/CriticalLit/...

We're back in Barovia for Ch. 13 of Curse of Strahd, and the Amber Temple is sending mixed messages. Does it want us to freeze to death? Burn to a crisp? Get possessed by loot? Maybe this adorably bespectacled jackal-faced creature can help? Nope, more fireballs. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

Our final look at the Caves of Chaos takes 17 man-turns to unpack. The cult fit is very Queen of Hearts & matches the canonically evil furnishings. But the real villain is in accounting. Who else could set up such an enormous slush fund for magic amulets? podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/k...

Bonus content on Patreon! The Saja Boys launch an earworm attack & Jinu's jawline launches 1000 shipfics, joining Trauma Mommy Celine & a giggly Gwi-Ma as likable antagonists. But the real villain is the tight 90-minute runtime. Oh the exposition we could have had! www.patreon.com/posts/kpop-d...

Many yawning orifices await as the spelunking finally begins! The myriad tribes of the Caves of Chaos have complex social hierarchies, tight-knit family units, commerce, and vintners, but their deaths carry absolutely no moral weight. Exterminate at your leisure! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/k...

Dammit granite! If these walls could talk, they'd blush & tell you 'murder hole' is not the preferred nomenclature. Gygax continues to wow with his commitment to verisimilitude (of a sort), but where are all the bathrooms? Just don't ask who's feeding the snakes. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/k...

What if "Do as I say, not as I do" was a D&D module? We're headed to The Keep on the Borderlands for spring break & Gary Gygax's 1979 grab-bag of breathless GM advice turns out to be mostly cribbed from TSR colleague Mike Carr. Shaper of the Cosmos am I, the DM! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/k...

An Oops All Bards party protects the world from demons, but the real demons are the ones inside them all along. And the Demon King has a great sense of humor? This month's bonus content features a triumph for representation & for underdogs over corporate indifference. www.patreon.com/posts/kpop-d...

Everything's vine down at the Wizard of Wines! Chapter 12 is the nexus of nearly every plot hook in this book, but it's knee-deep in stick monsters and teetotaling druids. Remember, they're not dirty because they're evil; they're evil because they're dirty. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

Bonus content on Patreon! Even Level 15 Divination Wizard Annie isn't enough to save the juke joint crew from the depredations of Remmick von Zar O'vich. www.patreon.com/posts/sinner...

It's a Dance Dance Execution at the door of Khazan's Tower. Chapter 11 of Curse of Strahd also features a wagon as volatile as a meth lab. 100 you say? Try 101! Plus, we take a harder look at Strahd's potential enemies list from Chapter 1's Fortunes of Ravenloft. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

Sure, Strahd had one mother, but what about second mother? In Ch. 10 of Curse of Strahd, Baba Lysaga is a boy-mom wannabe with a parasocial fixation on our titular vamp. To impress him, she wages a feud against Barovia's goats and ravens. It's a blood bath! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

For want of a dress, Krezk was lost. In Chapters 8 & 9 of Curse of Strahd, the Abbot gets serious about playing dress-up, Ireena takes a dive, feathered fiends guard the pass & the roc just needs a snack. But the real villain is the gruffest goat on the mountain. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

February bonus content on Patreon! We enter the juke joint & experience a transcendent musical experience (and a couple of sexual ones). It's everything that could have been had the inexorable toll of structural racism (vampires) not come calling. Poor Robin, indeed. www.patreon.com/posts/sinner...

Mutual aid! In my D&D? In Ch. 8 of Curse of Strahd, the Krezkites share everything: food, labor & a growing horror at the screams coming from the Abbey. The town's empty graves are almost as problematic as the portrayal of the people this book calls "mongrelfolk." podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

Strahd tried to bury these gays, but this isn't that kind of story. In Chapter 7 of Curse of Strahd, what begins as a side quest to lay unquiet dead to rest soon becomes a tragic love story that can literally bring light to this forsaken land. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

I'm just a girl, a girl & a girl, hovering ethereally behind a boy, asking him—for the love of all that is unholy—to please be more careful with that hag eye I gifted you! Idiot. Chapter 6 of Curse of Strahd weighs heavier on the heart than it does on the hands. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

January bonus content on Patreon! Relevant to our interests & culturally relevant at yet another crucial inflection point in American history where the forces of racism threaten to tear the country apart. About to win a fistful of awards but not as many as it should. www.patreon.com/posts/sinner...

Personally, I'm a fan of...Cox?

'Sup, Schickheads! The White Plume Mountain deep dive wraps up with a raging case of instant super-tetanus, bellies full of crab boil & a haul of legendary weapons. Plus one 6-foot hookah for good measure. Cue the @dandillon.bsky.social cold open... critical-lit.simplecast.com/episodes/whi...

Who says you can't leave Barovia? Our holiday hiatus is the 1979 TSR module White Plume Mountain, written exactly one time and no more by Lawrence Schick. It's surely chock full of renegade, deranged, fanatical gnomes! critical-lit.simplecast.com/episodes/whi...

The Pit of Equal Justice Under the Law doesn't have the same ring to it.

December bonus content on Patreon! Tired of mawwiages that skip to the end? When man & wife isn't enough, try To Blave, the only reason for living. If that fails, the Dread Pirate Roberts is here for your soul! www.patreon.com/posts/prince...

Curse of Strahd Deep Dive #11: Til Decay Do us Part. As we wrap up Chapter 5, all is not well in Vallaki! Never mind the devil cult hobbyists or the rampaging tiger. The coffin maker has six secrets buried in the attic & they're waiting for a feast. critical-lit.simplecast.com/episodes/cur...

Curse of Strahd Deep Dive 10: That's So Wereraven. All will be well! Just avoid the man with the barbed devil arm & his collection of identical dolls. The incel wizard. The bone thief & his shovel. The priest with a secret. Keep smiling, because you must. critical-lit.simplecast.com/episodes/cri...

The werewolves finally make an appearance in the Curse of Strahd deep dive. And what an appearance.

November bonus content on Patreon! Close your eyes and picture a castle in a low-fantasy setting. A forest of thieves. Giant rats. A sword duel. Chances are you're actually picturing this movie, even if you don't remember you are. www.patreon.com/posts/prince...

Curse of Strahd Deep Dive Episode 9: Crypt Walk. Castle Ravenloft Final Level: Exit here for Entombed Enemies, Plot Devices, Bat Guano, and Bridal Returns. Trust me, you don't want to talk to customer service. critical-lit.simplecast.com/episodes/cri...

Curse of Strahd Deep Dive Episode 8: Innocents and Insensibility. A cape a day keeps the Dark Powers at bay! Never mind the young woman of unspecified age in the King's Bedchamber. Just don't use the bathroom if you value your privacy—or sanity. critical-lit.simplecast.com/episodes/cri...

tl;dr: THAC0 is the tradwife of RPGs. Do not romanticize this inelegant and clumsy mechanic.

October bonus content on Patreon! Break out the golden bathrobes and horny green mist. Lucy's little quadrouple and their stern, professorial dom turn into pretty effective vampire hunters, despite some initial setbacks. RIP Lucy, you would have loved the Saja Boys. www.patreon.com/posts/franci...

Curse of Strahd Episode 7: Now hiring at Castle Ravenloft! Feeling chained to your desk? Make it more than just a feeling, with a career that will last the rest of your life. Maybe even longer! critical-lit.simplecast.com/episodes/cri...

Libertarianism is always a trauma response. You need more empathy, not less.

Curse of Strahd Episode 6: What horrors await within Castle Ravenloft? Marionettes, puppets & faceless dolls galore! Surely there's no metaphor here. As long as you never stop running to catch your breath, you'll be fine. critical-lit.simplecast.com/episodes/cri...

Chapter 3 of Curse of Strahd reads like a Barovian Career Fair. Choose from: Trapped in Cellar, Doll-like Bride, Buried Father, Ground Into Pie. Or get your degree. You can major in Expectations Management or Accounting. critical-lit.simplecast.com/episodes/cri...

September Bonus Content is here for Patreon subscribers! Strahd has us in a chokehold, so we're vamping through 1992's Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, a Keanu Reeves vehicle (not that one). Gary Oldman chews scenery & Winona Ryder in killer drip. www.patreon.com/posts/franci...

Chapter 2 of our Barovian tour closes with an illuminating look at Vistani leader Madam Eva that should have come much earlier! The Mad Mage is, and Strahd might just be the Demiurge of Gnostic myth. Hylics of the world unite! critical-lit.simplecast.com/episodes/cri...

There once was a peasant named Vlad Who felt neither happy nor sad With no soul inside T'wasn't grim when they died Though the dirt nap did drive them quite mad ^^^ This is our way of saying that in this new episode LIVE NOW we talk all about soulless Barovians without souls (and much more)!

August bonus content is here for Patreon subscribers! We wrap up our breakdown of The #DnD Movie: Honor Among Thieves. Don't let AI tell you it's spelled Honour—despite great work by the very British Regé-Jean Page. In fact, don't let AI tell you anything. #ttrpg www.patreon.com/posts/dungeo...

First review up from two folks I admire and respect a great deal. Thanks for checking out the book!

TPT #393: #DrawSteel Review. @ihsien.bsky.social & @mundangerous.bsky.social accrue Drama in an extra-long review of @hellomcdm.bsky.social's new #RPG system. We walk you through the classes, ancestries, rules & rewards & let you know if it’s worth buying. megaphone.link/OSPN8564423138

Want the arbitrary punishment of OSR but miss the production values of modern RPGs? Death House is for you, baby! It's just a foggy night away...

I-Hsien's new podcast drops today! Critical Lit is a cross between a book review and MST3K, a tongue-in-cheek re-examination of classic RPG modules that answers important questions like What is the nature of a predator? and Is Strahd hot or not? He's joined by Dan Dillon, Amelia Som & Sal Tamarkin.

Genuinely about to pull the trigger on the Patreon for @morecivilized.bsky.social, but can someone tell me what they think about my boy Qimir first? I ain’t about to pay $$ to hear #MannyJacinto isn’t your type. #starwars #theacolyte